BC Coroners reviewed the illicit drug toxicity deaths in 2022.
On December 15, 2021, the British Columbia Coroners Service (BCCS) convened a second death review panel into illicit drug toxicity deaths. Four years after the first panel, which reviewed 1,854 deaths between January 1, 2016 and July 31, 2017, the death toll continues to climb with 6,000 more British Columbians dying – almost six persons each day.
Click this image to take you to the PDF report download.
Major Findings of the report:
Drug toxicity deaths continue to increase;
The drug supply is increasingly toxic;
Indigenous people are disproportionately affected;
There is a strong concurrence of substance use and mental health disorders;
Most decedents had recent contact with health professionals prior to their death;
Individuals living in poverty, and with housing instability, are particularly vulnerable;
Multiple substances are detected in the majority of the deaths;
Very few of the decedents engaged with substance use disorder treatment services; and
These deaths are occurring across the province in urban and rural and remote centres.